Pakistan

It is a national tragedy. The recent deaths of about a hundred people from meaningless and mindless target killings is proof that some very sick minds are on the loose on the streets of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most cosmopolitan city. Mainly due to ethnic and political strife, the stray bullets that claimed innocent victims led to a countrywide uproar. Police and paramilitary forces were under strict orders to shoot on sight anyone perpetrating violence or terrorism. However, they don’t seem to be doing a lot to curb the senseless insanity.

In the words of one spokesman “157 people had been arrested in the operation last night and 38 pistols and 3 AK-47 rifles had been confiscated”. But still the rogue elements seem to be out there. Over hundreds of families have been evacuated from the troubled areas. Police combed the entire city for the bad elements that had destroyed the peace of mind of the inhabitants. With over 18 million dwellers Karachi has a history of ethnic and sectarian violence. This is a characteristic of big city life all over the globe.

Rivalry between the Muhajirs and the Pashtuns is blamed for this phenomenon. The former are members of the MQM while the latter belong to the ANP.

Government and good governance is about everything that is possible. But today the impossible too has become a possibility. Pakistani politicians are hurling abusive vitriol against each other on a scale unheard of before in the entire history of the nation. Directly after Nawaz Sharif’s critical speech against current President Asif Ali Zardari a scathing rejoinder was made by the latter. He referred to the former as “Maulvi Nawaz Sharif” and went ahead to attack his opponent with hatred.

Shahbaz Sharif meanwhile has said that the President is capable of killing his own brother. Such remarks show that the nations political compass is askew. It is an absurd situation one finds oneself in when one enters the political arena in “The Land of the Pure.” Surely this is not what the creator of the nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, envisioned. He had a more tolerant and peaceful not to mention secular Pakistan in mind.

Pakistan needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and reform itself accordingly. Dirty politics is one area that requires a lot of cleaning before it can reflect any semblance of sanitation and sanity.

Since the past 10 months Somali pirates had held hostages which finally arrived in Pakistan and were given a warm welcome. Since August of 2010 an Egyptian vessel had docked off the coast of Oman and been seized by Somali pirates. The PNS Zulfiqar reached Karachi along with 22 crew members of the Egyptian boat. The Navy spokesman Mohammad Kamran said that “we have welcomed them warmly and will keep the foreigners as our guests.”

Such events reflect the fragility of human life. It is a good thing that the hostages were released and are now safe and sound. A ceremony was held to celebrate the release of the hostages. The families of the hostages are happy and their joy knows no bounds. The four Pakistanis among the hostages were present on the occasion along with their relatives.

The other crew members included eleven Egyptians, six Indians and one Sri Lankan. It has been a close call for the hostages and they are indeed lucky to escape with their lives intact.

In upcoming September there might be a relaxation in visa restrictions in both India and Pakistan. Officials of both countries met over talks in which it was agreed upon that the visa regime ought to be deregulated a little. This condition counts for businessmen, people of the press and the elderly. The Joint Working Group met over talks and in the words of one official: “If both countries reach an agreement…[they] will have a liberalized visa regime.”

Also those with medical issues will be allowed particular laxity in the law. The visas are not just city-specific. Rather the citizens of each nation will be allowed to travel throughout India or Pakistan without limitations. This is indeed good news for tourists. In the words of another official: “this is to facilitate greater people-to-people contacts between the two nations.”

Pakistan and India have a history of conflict with occasional oases of friendship amidst the desert of hostilities. This is a positive step towards reconciliation that might bode well for future times.

The sheer brutality and vicious savagery of it shook the entire nation of Pakistan to its foundation. The video coverage of a couple of Karachi Rangers abusing and then barbarically killing a defenseless youth named Sarfraz reached authorities causing a pandemonium. The media has once again shown its rooting for the cause of justice and fair play. The youth begged and pleaded for his life but was not spared. First he was beaten black and blue and then to add insult to injury he was shot without any moral compunction.

Once the family of the victim got to know of the injustice they appealed to the Supreme Court and the government to give the criminals who did the deed exemplary punishment. There is uproar in parliament over this case of violence by those who are supposed to control it. There have been previous cases of Karachi Rangers abusing their authority in a high handed way. This time they seem to have gone a little too far. Two of the Rangers have been identified and taken into custody and placed on a five day remand.

The higher ups of these cruel perpetrators of the heinous crime are being questioned and indicted too. In Pakistan, which has become a police state, this is a clear case of “terrorists in uniform.”

Pakistan and the United States have had an on-again off-again relationship which has seen the two countries through difficult times. But the recent tide of events seems to have rudely awoken both nations from their sweet dreams. First Osama’s death caused quite a furor in Islamabad since the US Commandos had not taken the Pak Army into confidence. Then the terrorist attack on the PNS Mehran served as a source of great embarrassment for the government and military.

The romance is certainly on the rocks. But according to Wikileaks what appears on the surface is not so if you look beneath. The bold whistle-blowing site has revealed that there is a great deal of cooperation between the two nations despite surface turmoil. In fact the romance still goes on and is hard to break. The US needs Pakistan in the capacity of a front line state just as much as Pakistan is dependent for aid from the US.

If anything, in future times when fundamentalism will plague society even more, it is precisely this friendship between these two nations, situated on diametrically opposed locations of the globe, which might sound the death-knell for extremism.